William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

It's almost that time again for Catch the Crush! September 27 & 28, 2008 This is a terrific way to taste some fantastic wine. Join the Columbia Valley wineries in celebrating harvest and crush at the 22nd annual "Catch the Crush" event in the heart of Washington's wine country. Each of the wineries offers its own celebratory events including grape stomps, harvest and crush activities, winery tours, free run juice, hors d’oeuvres, live music, and of course – wine tasting! Don’t miss out on the beauty of the Indian Summer in the Columbia Valley vineyards and our great wines on special this weekend. Columbia Valley wineries will be open from 10 am to 5 pm both Saturday and Sunday (some open later so check winery pages for hours). Please bring your own glass, or purchase the optional VIP ticket that includes a glass. Glass pickup locations this year: Barnard Griffin, Goose Ridge, Oakwood Cellars, Seth Ryan, Tapteil Estate and Terra Blanca. More details at the link be...

This is short notice, I just received this information last night. Just in time for for the Labor Day weekend - Anelare Winery is celebrating their, Second Annual Release Event! This Saturday, August 30 th , 10 am-5 pm, and Sunday, August 31st, 11 am - 4 pm Anelare is a private, limited bottling winery. "Come celebrate our new vintage! Enjoy, wine, Art and music." Anelare is co-located at Canon De Sol Winery 46415 East Badger Road Benton City, WA 99320 509-588-6171 info@anelare.com http://www.anelare.com/ If you are able to attend this event, let me know how it goes. Cheers!

I find myself investing more time on Facebook than expected. If you are also on Facebook, and would like to share your Washington wine experiences with others, then check out the new Facebook Group "Wild 4 Washington Wine". Not on Facebook? www.facebook.com - I just joined last year. For fans of Washington Wine! Share your most memorable wine or tasting room visit. With over 500 wineries in Washington state, there is a lot of wine to discuss, "Wild 4 Washington Wine". Cheers! - William "Wine is Food, Wine is Life!" Jane Pearson, Tapteil Estate www.tapteil.com

A View from the Tasting Room Floor Up. Last week I had quite the ex perience helping b ottle wine at Hightower Cellars on Red Mountain. As a Washington Wine Ambassador, www.washingtonwine.org/ , I receive occasional invites to help wineries, small and large, with events and other activities. The most recent invite was to help Hightower Cellars bottle their 2006 vintage s. Since I n ever bottled w ine before, I thought this would be a good opportunity to volunteer and see fo r myself what it is lik e. Red Mountain is only a 15 minute drive from my home, so I arrived at the w inery at approximately 9:30 AM ready to work.  Tim and Kelly emptying barrels. Kelly and Tim Hightower are the winemakers of Hightower Cellars. Hightower was originally located in Woodinvi lle, Washington. But, with the purchase of land on Red Mountain, along with water rights, they’ve been producing o utstanding wines on Red Mountai n sinc e they moved there in 2002. Mobile Bottling Hightower d...

I just found this wine locally on sale for $10 and had to share with you. This is a bottle of Eliseo Silva 2005 Syrah . Eliseo (Lee) Silva is the vineyard manager for Alice and Arete vineyards of Tagaris Winery. Yes, this is a Tagaris wine. And yes, Eliseo is producing some outstanding fruit. That is his picture on the bottle. The screw cap did not open as intended, you may be able to notice in the picture that the entire cap assembly unscrewed from the bottle, not just the top cap. No matter, the wine was protected as intended and tastes great to me. First impressions are positive, pleasant and smooth. All the wine needs is a little time to open up. Visual: Great color, dark purple, some sedimentation. Aroma: Slightly earthy, rich, dark fruit, black pepper, blueberry syrup in background. Flavor: Leather, tobacco, blackberry, black pepper, plum. Finish: Dry, medium tannins, not huge, but quite pleasant. I really like this wine. It has a lot going on for the price. So, I'm thrill...

Washington Wine prices are marked down for the month of August at Washington State Liquor Stores. Two days ago I stopped by the local Washington State Liquor Store and the employees were busy stacking boxes of Washington wines for Washington Wine month. August is Washington Wine Month! Which translates to great values on Washington wine. I saw many great bottles of Washington wine at very reasonable prices. FYI: I saw Barnard Griffin 2005 Reserve Merlot at $18.99 (bargain) and Tamarack 2006 Firehouse Red at $13.99 (bargain) among other wines. This is a great time to stock up on Washington Wine if you live in Washington state or live nearby. You also receive an additional 10% discount on the purchase of 6 bottles or more of wine. I noticed that the Avery Lane wines are priced between $3.99 and $5.99 (bargain). note: State Liquor Stores are a holdover from the prohibition era. They are the only stores in Washington where you can buy spirits (vodka, whiskey, rum, tequila, etc.). Local gro...